My Heart Can't Be Taken, But It's All Yours
by its-about-bloody-time
Summary: Things between Emma and Killian are complicated, but when Killian finds out that Emma owes Rumple a favor, he's terrified of losing her the way that he lost Milah. What happens when he learns the truth about Emma's heart? (A CS First Kiss oneshot)


"Emma, NO!" he cried. Pacing back and forth across the deck of his ship, his hand combing frantically through his hair, Killian seemed nearly unhinged with worry.

"Killian, I'll be fine. It's just a trip to New York. He just wants to find his son. He won't hurt me."

"Like hell he won't! Emma, you can't-"

Emma was getting exasperated now. "_Hook_, you don't get to tell me what I can and can't do!"

"Emma!" He shouted, whirling to face her and throwing his hands in the air. Hurt was evident in his eyes; her use of his moniker instead of his name had hit the pirate like a slap. She glared back at him.

Emma didn't even blink as he strode across the deck towards her. Things with Killian were… complicated. They'd danced around each other for months since he'd arrived in Storybrooke, and each time they crossed paths, they'd gotten closer and closer. Were they _together?_ Emma wasn't quite sure where things stood between them. "Boyfriend" as a general term didn't seem to fit with literature's most infamous pirate. And yet, here she was, in her favorite tight red dress and black leather jacket, standing on his ship as the clock back in town chimed eleven. She… really enjoyed being with him. That much she knew for sure. Tonight's date had been no exception.

But she wasn't going to let him tell her what to do. "Killian, it's been decided. I'm going." No matter what he was, boyfriend, paramour, potential love interest… This was her choice to make.

"Why are you doing this? Do you _want _to be killed?" Hook was shouting again.

Emma tilted her chin up and looked him straight in the eye. "I owe him a _favor_, okay, and I'm clearing the books." Hearing this, Hook looked stunned.

"A _favor? _Emma, owing that man a favor is owing him your _life_! How could you possibly owe-"

Emma frowned at this and cut him off. "It happened before I knew who he really was, but the matter still stands." He started to speak, but she raised her hand and kept going. "Would you rather I let this favor hang over my head until he decides to hurt _you?_ Do you really think that, if finding his son wasn't his priority, he would hesitate to use me to get to you? I want this debt gone before he tries that!" A wind off the sea blew across the deck, making Emma's hair fly around her face.

"Don't go, Emma. Please.He's dangerous, he's killed before, he'll stop at nothing to hurt me, I know, but that means you're in danger too…" Killian took another step towards her.

"Killian, clearing the books now is the only way!"

"Then find another way! I can't let you keep taking these risks, Emma! You're bloody important, this town needs you, _I need you_, and if anything were to happen…"

His declaration stunned Emma, but her face betrayed nothing as he stepped even closer to her.

"You've no idea what he'd do, lass… You've never seen him in a rage," Killian murmured. Emma's memory flashed back to a dark night, a cabin in the woods, a cane, and a seriously injured florist. "And I don't want you in his line of fire because he takes no prisoners. He'd _kill you, _Emma_."_ Killian choked slightly on his words. "_He'd take your heart and he would crush it."_

His face was inches away from Emma's now, and he was pressing her back into the ship's railing. His hand wrapped around her upper arm and his gaze drilled into hers. She could see the tumult of hurt and fear and pain in his eyes, and she could see the tears he was trying to blink away. Her heart broke for him. She remembered Milah, and the way that coaxing the story out of him had brought spasms of grief across his face. She knew how devastated he'd been, how broken and battered and fundamentally scared he still was underneath all his bravado.

And now he was scared for her. Scared that it would happen again, that he'd lose someone he cared about and be powerless to stop it. Her gaze softened and her hand came to rest on the lapel of his coat. Around them, a light rain began to fall.

"Killian," she murmured, "you don't have to be scared for me. You don't have to be afraid about that anymore."

He blinked back at her, confusion and frustration clouding his eyes in equal measure. "I'm not going to let what happened-" here, he visibly flinched at the memory, 'happen again. You're too important not to fight for, Emma, and if you're saying that I should just stop worrying, and stop caring, lass, it's a bit late for that."

She pulled him closer, staring deep into his eyes and brushing her nose against his. "No, Killian, I'm saying that there's no reason to be afraid anymore. My heart…" she glanced down at her chest, where she felt it pounding from the heightened emotions and the proximity of the man she knew, deep down, that she loved. "My heart _can't be taken_. Cora tried, but… it's impossible. My heart is stuck right where it is."

Killian looked at her, his stormy eyes brimming with emotion and awe, and then, to hide the tear that she glimpsed sliding down his cheek, he rested his forehead against hers and looked down, his fingertip sliding from her upper arm across her shoulder and down to rest lightly on her chest. She knew that he could feel her heart jumping under his touch.

He removed his forehead from hers, leaning back slightly, and looked back at her His eyes were wide and impossibly blue. "…Really?" he whispered. His hook arm slid around her lower back and held her protectively to him. The rain slid down his nose and across his jaw, but Emma saw another tear fall too. That was what pushed her over the edge. She brought him back closer to her by the lapels of his coat, and, resting her forehead against his once more, she nudged him with the tip of her nose. Her other arm twined around his neck and her hand tangled in his hair. She brought her lips to his tentatively at first, and he responded gently, but then his hand was cradling her head and he was holding her impossibly close to him and he was kissing her with a reverent fervor that told her everything that he couldn't put into words. His tongue skated across her lips and as her mouth opened she sighed against him. He was willing to fight for her. She wasn't going to be a repeat of his painful past. Neither could believe it, and both were completely in love.

They were both getting soaked, but neither noticed.

Finally, Emma pulled back, her lips slightly puffy and her eyes full of tears. Her hand came to rest on his jaw as he stared down at her. For the first time, she could see a glimmer of hope, and maybe even love, in his oceanic eyes.

His hand rested over her heart once more. "Really?" he whispered again, wanting so desperately to believe it.

"Really." She smiled up at him through the tears, and then they were kissing again.


End file.
